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Topic: Abominations (Read 1033 times)

Occasionally some foolish Leech tries to make a pet of a Garou, usually by means of the Embrace. Because almost all werewolves are violently allergic to vitae, they are accordingly hard to ghoul. By the grace of Gaia, they are just as difficult to Embrace: Most werewolves die upon the attempt. Sadly, the Embrace works in a few rare, rare instances -- and the miserable results are the rightly named Abominations.

Vampiric werewolves are literally things that should not be. Shapeshifters are the purest form of primal life on the face of the planet -- vampirism is living death. The Embrace disconnects Garou from the world's soul, their very reason for existing. As a resultt, the leading cause of Final Death among the dozen or so Abominations that exist at any given time is suicide. An Embraced Garou has lost far, far more than the average once-mortal childe. Abominations are created in mostly the same manner as all vampires, save that even the most depraved Black Spiral Dancer isn't inclined to sacrifice willingly his higher spiritual being for the powers of the grave. Virtually all Abominations were taken prisoner as living beings, then Embraced to enslave them to their sires.

Garou receive one final chance to escape the living death; upon the Embrace, the Garou makes a reflexive (and instinctive) Gnosis roll, difficulty 6, to die quietly. If the roll succeeds, he dies without pain and his spirit travels to its destined place. If the roll fails, he dies in torturous agony, but his spirit is free. If the roll botches, the Garou becomes an Abomination and cannot hope ever to see his Tribal Homeland. No Discipline, Gift, magic or any other sort of power short of directly intervention by a Celestine can affect this roll, save one -- the werewolf can spend a Willpower point to gain an automatic success as usual (and is almost certain to do so).

A newly Embraced Abomination takes on the clan of his sire, learns three dots of clan Disciplines and gains the clan weakness as does any other neonate. He may spend blood points to increase his Attribute or heal himself like any other vampire. The advantages of the Embrace end there. Becoming an Abomination results in the immediate loss of two permanent points of Glory, three permanent Honor and three permanent Wisdom. The Embrace usually causes even mighty Garou elders to fall at least two places in rank; indeed, a newly-turned Abomination can even fall below Rank One. Unless the werewolf was previously a Black Spiral Dancer, she cannot gain renown or rise in rank again. Only the depraved Dancers acknowledge their undead relatives, and even then the Dancer gains only one-quarter of the standard Renown awards for her deeds. Abominations also cannot spend experience to raise their Gnosis Trait.

Upon death, the Garou's connection with the spiritual whole of Gaia is irreparably severed. This loss means that Abominations cannot regenerate their wounds as do Garou; Abominations may heal themselves by spending Blood Points. This severing from the wellspring of life also has a severe repercussions on the Abomination's relationship with the spirit world. Although Abominations retain knowledge of the Gifts and rites they possessed before their Embrace, they cannot make any rites other than Wyrm-rites work; only the most corrupt spirits ever answer a call made by a dead thing. Abominations also cannot learn new Gifts from any spirits other than Banes, and these spirits are spiteful, devious teachers. At the time of the Embrace (or, more precisely, of death), any dedicated or attuned fetishes lose their connection to the once-Garou. Gaian spirits, even those bound in fetishes, chafe at the presence of the undead. To attune himself to a Gaian fetish after the Embrace, the Abomination may still roll Gnosis as usual -- but at difficulty 10, and a botch results in the Abomination losing a permanent Gnosis point.

Abominations may not spend blood points for any purpose in the same turn that they spend Gnosis, make Gnosis rolls, spend Rage or make Rage rolls. Rage, Gnosis and vitae all interfere with one another's use, and an undead Garou can draw only one of the three at any given time. Abominations have bloodpools according to their Generation, as usual -- their doubly potent Garou blood was drained during the Embrace, and they must make do with normal vitae. Abominations exist in a state of perpetual Harano; every scene, an Abomination must spend a Willpower point to spend the scene with his dice pools at full. If it will not or cannot do so, its dice pools are halved for the scene. What's more, the spiritless Abominations may not spend Willpower to gain automatic successes on any dice rolls.

Having been something other than human, Abominations don't use Humanity as a system of morality. They have a far greater stake at risk -- their Gnosis. It is the only thing keeping them from acting on the vile impulses that grow within them in undeath; not natural urges, but seeds planted by the Wyrm during their Embrace. An Abomination's Gnosis Trait determines how soundly it sleeps during the day and in most cases acts as Humanity would. (Of course, the Abomination still checks for frenzy rolling Rage.)

Whenever an Abomination transgresses against the ways of the Gaian Garou, whether deliberately or unconsciously (such as in a frenzy), it risks degeneration. The higher the Abomination's Gnosis, the more likely that even a minor transgression can tear more of his spirit from him. This true even for Black Spiral Dancers -- their usual customs and tactics are sure road to degeneration. The chart below is a rough guide to what actions force an Abomination to check for Gnosis loss (refer to the chart below). If the vampiric Garou takes an action that requires a check, it rolls Gnosis, difficulty 7 (with modifiers at the Storyteller's discretion -- particularly callous deeds might make degeneration much easier). Failure means that it loses a point of Gnosis irrevocably. A botch grants the hapless creature a Derangement. When all the Abomination's Gnosis is gone, it can no longer step sideways or use any Gifts or fetishes.

There is only one way to prevent this degeneration -- the Abomination can fully offer what's left of its soul to the Wyrm (more accurately, a powerful intermediary thereof, such as a Maeljin Incarna). After making this black pact, the Abomination becomes a Storyteller-controlled character. Its Gnosis is no longer at risk; the Wyrm sees to fueling its spiritual energy. However, the Abomination no longer has any free will whatsoever; every action it takes is at the direction of its patron.

Other Changing Breeds are, if anything, even less suited to vampiric life. A Bastet, for example, begins losing permanent Gnosis, one per moon upon the Embrace and can never recover her loss. Eventually, the undead cat is cut off from the spirit world entirely, unable to do so much as activate Gifts. Nuwisha, by comparison cannot undergo the Embrace -- individuals who try to force vampirism on the coyotes find that the Nuwisha die quietly, one and all. Mokole and Corax have it even worse, with their ties to the sun -- both die the Final Death within one day of the Embrace, their loss of connection with Helios killing them irrevocably by the next sunset. Unfortunately for everyone around him (including the vampire parent), a Mokole Abomination spends the rest of his existence in a brutal, mindless frenzy, which almost always results in the would-be sire ended up as so much reddish goo spread across the ground. Thankfully, all shapehifters at least receive the standard Gnosis roll to avoid the Embrace and die quietly.

"The Moon-Beasts, the ones-who-change, they are the Oldest of all, before my Father they roamed the lands.Tarry not in the path of them. Avoid them, they are set upon us like wolves in the sheepfold. For we are of one kind, and they another. Beware their sacred ground, walk softly through their wilderness. Do not cross into the their woods, it's filled with spirits and they will seek to kill you. Avoid them for the most part, temporary victory is not worth your unlife."